Sunday, 10 August 2014

A new design that has evolved from a design I used on a garden heart recently. I've called it Elements because there is a touch of fire and earth, and water and ice in each band of colour. The colour stripes are a mix of plain tiles, some iridescent to add metallic shine and some translucent to add depth. The background and border I have kept as a neutral stone grey to tie in with the element theme and to show off the bands of colour even more.

I had some magenta nuggets that I wanted to use in a design, and a slate heart that I wanted to create a garden ornament out of. So I designed a soft palette of purples, browns and pastel blues and toned down the magenta by adding a dark blue mottling to them so they tied in with the design. The white tiles used have a slightly pitted surface that has taken specks of the grout to create an almost white granite effect. It's a lovely Muted Heart Garden Decoration for adding a touch of subtle colour to the home or garden.

I've had some customers mention to me that they can't have a bird bath for various reasons (no garden, cats, boisterous kids), so I have come up with a way to convert the bird bath designs into wall plaques. I make quite a lot of commissions for people that just want a change of use, or a slight change to the designs. Here is a selection. The Harvest Hedgehog Dish, made into a wall plaque, and the design reversed to create an Autumn Hedgehog Dish. The Lavender Hedgehog Dish made into a wall plaque. And two standard made to order bird bath designs with similar colours used in the design tweaked slightly to match further and given matching borders. If you'd like to have a tweak made to any design, or you'd like a wall plaque made from a bird bath design (the wall plaques are suitable for garden use too), then just contact me on jo@josara.co.uk or on my website Contact Form.

I saw a plea from the Hedgehog Preservation Society to make sure that there was fresh water out for the hedgehogs to drink in the hot weather. It inspired me to create the Hedgehog Water Dish range. These are great for small birds to bathe in, and larger birds to drink from during the day. Then in the evening and at night the hedgehogs can use them to get a drink too. Plus you get to enjoy a hedgehog in your garden in the day with the hedgehog design. Perfect. And with three colour choices to choose from, Moonlight, Lavender, and Harvest, a perfect gift for any wildlife lover too.